Contemporary Labor Economics, 7e presents the "new" labor economics. In the past, study of labor was highly descriptive, emphasizing historical developments, facts, institutions, and legal considerations. Labor markets and unemployment was accorded some attention, but the analysis was typically minimal. This state of affairs has changed significantly in recent decades. Economists have achieved important breakthroughs in studying labor markets and problems. Labor economics is increasingly an applied field of micro and macro theory and has become a critical part of the core of analytical economics. As a result, the focus of the text is on the ''new'' labor economics. However, it also presents traditional topics such as labor law, structure of unions, and collective bargaining since these issues also play an important role in labor markets.

New Features

''What Do Unions Want?'' and ''Strikes and the Bargaining Process'': Chapter 10 has been revised to include content on the monopoly union and efficient contracts models of union behavior. Also new are discussions of the accident and asymmetric information models of strikes.

Public policy issues: This edition includes a number of new discussions of public policy issues including immigration, outsourcing, living wages, earnings mobility, downsizing, and the earned income tax credit, overtime pay rules, and company stock in pension plans. This makes the text more relevant for students.

Continuing and Expanded Emphasis on Global Aspects of U.S. Labor Markets: The text's integrated focus on global aspects of U.S. labor markets has continued and been expanded with this edition. For example, this edition includes new World of Work boxes on outsourcing (Chapter 5), immigration policy (Chapter 9), and cross-country differences in intergenerational earnings mobility (Chapter 16).

Use of Color in Graphs: To make the graphs easier to understand, this edition uses color in its graphs.

Shortened Discussions: The discussions have been shortened, without the loss of important content, in several chapters. For example, we have trimmed the Chapter 14 discussion of ''Cause and Effect: Non-Discriminatory Factors'' and ''Antidiscrimination Policies and Issues.'' In addition, many footnote lists have been condensed.

Internet Links: Each chapter now has one or more end-of-chapter Internet links. These links enable students to increase their understanding of the material as well as obtain the most current data available.

Chapter 1: Labor Economics Introduction and Overview

Chapter 2: The Theory of Individual Labor Supply

Chapter 3: Population, Participation Rates, and Hours of Work

Chapter 4: Labor Quality: Investing in Human Capital

Chapter 5: The Demand for Labor

Chapter 6: Wage Determination and the Allocation of Labor

Chapter 7: Alternative Pay Schemes and Labor Efficiency

Chapter 8: The Wage Structure

Chapter 9: Mobility, Migration, and Efficiency

Chapter 10: Labor Unions and Collective Bargaining

Chapter 11: The Economic Impact of Unions

Chapter 12: Government and the Labor Market: Employment, Expenditures, and Taxation

Chapter 13: Government and the Labor Market: Legislation and Regulation

Contemporary Labor Economics, 7e presents the "new" labor economics. In the past, study of labor was highly descriptive, emphasizing historical developments, facts, institutions, and legal considerations. Labor markets and unemployment was accorded some attention, but the analysis was typically minimal. This state of affairs has changed significantly in recent decades. Economists have achieved important breakthroughs in studying labor markets and problems. Labor economics is increasingly an applied field of micro and macro theory and has become a critical part of the core of analytical economics. As a result, the focus of the text is on the ''new'' labor economics. However, it also presents traditional topics such as labor law, structure of unions, and collective bargaining since these issues also play an important role in labor markets.

New Features

''What Do Unions Want?'' and ''Strikes and the Bargaining Process'': Chapter 10 has been revised to include content on the monopoly union and efficient contracts models of union behavior. Also new are discussions of the accident and asymmetric information models of strikes.

Public policy issues: This edition includes a number of new discussions of public policy issues including immigration, outsourcing, living wages, earnings mobility, downsizing, and the earned income tax credit, overtime pay rules, and company stock in pension plans. This makes the text more relevant for students.

Continuing and Expanded Emphasis on Global Aspects of U.S. Labor Markets: The text's integrated focus on global aspects of U.S. labor markets has continued and been expanded with this edition. For example, this edition includes new World of Work boxes on outsourcing (Chapter 5), immigration policy (Chapter 9), and cross-country differences in intergenerational earnings mobility (Chapter 16).

Use of Color in Graphs: To make the graphs easier to understand, this edition uses color in its graphs.

Shortened Discussions: The discussions have been shortened, without the loss of important content, in several chapters. For example, we have trimmed the Chapter 14 discussion of ''Cause and Effect: Non-Discriminatory Factors'' and ''Antidiscrimination Policies and Issues.'' In addition, many footnote lists have been condensed.

Internet Links: Each chapter now has one or more end-of-chapter Internet links. These links enable students to increase their understanding of the material as well as obtain the most current data available.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Labor Economics Introduction and Overview

Chapter 2: The Theory of Individual Labor Supply

Chapter 3: Population, Participation Rates, and Hours of Work

Chapter 4: Labor Quality: Investing in Human Capital

Chapter 5: The Demand for Labor

Chapter 6: Wage Determination and the Allocation of Labor

Chapter 7: Alternative Pay Schemes and Labor Efficiency

Chapter 8: The Wage Structure

Chapter 9: Mobility, Migration, and Efficiency

Chapter 10: Labor Unions and Collective Bargaining

Chapter 11: The Economic Impact of Unions

Chapter 12: Government and the Labor Market: Employment, Expenditures, and Taxation

Chapter 13: Government and the Labor Market: Legislation and Regulation